Re: Question about Eid and The Holy Pilgrimage.

Depends on the companies expats work in. Most private sector companies are off for 5 working days for each of two Eids excluding weekends.

Hi. Thanks Legend... So - if in my situation I'm at a University(starting Aug/Sep.) teaching ESL... does that mean it may differ from another Uni? Or does it mean from region to region.
I didn't know there are two Eids? I heard of the Holy Pilgrimage.
So there are usually 2 one week (5 working day) vacations with the two Eids...right? Not with the Holy Pilgrimage?
I apologize if this is a stupid question...but this is my first time and Google doesn't give much info.

No questions are stupid @rans11215

Yes, there are two Eids in a year. We have a month of fasting (from tomorrow). The first Eid (called 'Fitr') will fall immediately after that. Then after 10 weeks of Fitr, we'll have the second Eid called 'Adha'. It's when the Holy Pilgrimage activities are concluded. In fact, the Pilgrimage falls *during* the Eid holidays. So, that's about the structure.

Universities may differ in two sets of holidays. I hope someone from some University will jump in the discussion.

Hello Rans11215,

Eid Fitr comes right after Ramadan and lasts three days, Eid Adha is the one with four days and will start in October.
When this Eid Adha starts on oktober 15th (on a Tuesday) then you have 5 days off, this includes also the weekend.

I don't know what you exactly mean with the pilgrimage because there are two of them, one is the Hajj and the other one is the Umrah.
I found a link where you can read more about it:
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/184/

I hope that my answer will help you.

The second Eid (al-Adha) coincides with the Holy Pilgrimage (Haj). The second Eid holidays are longer so as to facilitate those people who are going for the Pilgrimage. Those who go for the Pilgrimage, will not celebrate Eid. And those who don go for it, will celebrate Eid.

Usually students have a longer break than the public/private sector employees. You can expect atleast a 5-working day holiday, which means you will close on a Thursday and open after the weekend, the following week. (2-day weekend + 5 working days + 2 day weekend).

One more thing to note is that students in universities and schools will get the last ten days of Ramadan (i.e. the 10 days preceding the first Eid) off. I am not sure if that can be said for the teachers as well. These holidays are the same for every university/college in the country.

Since you are only just joining as a teacher in August, it will definitely be after the first Eid holidays. It might even be when the students start their academic year, which I think is late August or first week of September.

Hope I didn't confuse you even more.

Hi all,

I meant to reply earlier. Thank you very much for all this great information... I never knew all of this.

Actual experience is much better than Google. I searched so much, but heard more from you people on here.

Thanks again. I'm really excited about KSA and would like to know as much as possible before I get there.

rans11215 wrote:

I'm really excited about KSA and would like to know as much as possible before I get there.

Always the best thing to do! Hope you enjoy your time